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FIBARO, a manufacturer of wireless intelligent home automation and control devices which was recently acquired by Nice, today announced that it is growing its installer base in the US and has built a new training program for security professionals, such as residential and commercial AV installers, electricians and practitioners within the construction industry.

“The certified Fibaro system installer training can be completed in one day and has been designed to provide attendees with practical knowledge of the design, configuration and implementation of the Fibaro smart home system,” the announcement read. “The program begins with a 101 training and evolves into hands-on training provided directly from Fibaro or by a specialized Fibaro Distributor.”

“Fibaro’s installer training provided the perfect mix of product training and a detailed introduction to the smart home, as well as the Z-Wave platform,” Justin Lee, a recently certified Fibaro Installer from Ergo Structures Inc. located in Toronto, Canada, said in a prepared statement.

Participants who complete the training earn an individualized certificate verifying that they are a Fibaro system expert. Certified Fibaro installers can also access the Fibaro Academy portal, which includes training and video materials as well as sales and technical support during the installation and design of the newly certified installer’s first customers. “Successful completion of the certified installation training is also the first step to becoming a Fibaro dealer and the ability to buy directly from one of Fibaro’s certified distributors,” the company said.

The Security Industry Association (SIA), in partnership with the ASIS Foundation and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, jointly released guidance for practitioners in the security and building management fields. Intelligent Building Management Systems: Guidance for Protecting Organizations provides a framework to help decision makers assign a risk-based criticality or impact to their building and asks relevant security questions to develop appropriate mitigation strategies. It also serves to establish a common language between the many intelligent building stakeholders.

“The ASIS Foundation is delighted to work with our partners BOMA and SIA to support such critical research in a rapidly developing but insufficiently understood field,” Sandra Cowie, CPP, director, global security and business continuity, principal, and 2018 ASIS Foundation president, said in the joint announcement. “Building automation invokes cutting-edge issues and technology such as the Internet of Things and advanced video analytics, as well as traditional concerns such as physical access control and proper procedures. The integrated whole undoubtedly poses challenges that are still emerging. This research is indispensable to helping our members get a handle on both the challenges and the opportunities of this fast-growing market.”

According to the report, the intelligent building market is growing 31 percent per year and is expected to exceed $59 billion by 2023. These systems are increasingly embedded into the contemporary built environment due to the demand for reduced operating costs, government regulation, and greater monitoring, control and operability. However, this growth comes with a substantial set of security vulnerabilities that many security and facility professionals have not accounted for. Importantly, the research finds a significant disconnect between security and facility professionals’ perceived understanding of intelligent building threats and risks versus actual dangers. In addition, the report revealed that a lack of common terminology and practices can result in misunderstandings and siloed views of associated security risks.

The report findings emphasize the need to:• Take a multidisciplinary proactive management approach to intelligent building vulnerability mitigation• Fuse multidisciplinary participants into an intelligent building security team

Additional findings include the recognition of intelligent building integrators and cybersecurity experts as partners who can help organizations better understand threats and risks and more effectively achieve intelligent building security.

“The research developed by the ASIS Foundation provides insights that should be leveraged by our members and the industry to better understand and identify vulnerabilities within intelligent building systems," Don Erickson, chief executive officer, SIA, said in a prepared statement. "An essential outcome from this project is the recommended guidance and checklist that will help security practitioners and security technology solutions providers work together to implement strategies to mitigate against potential risks.”

ADT announced that former Amazon and Chewy.com executive, Jochen Koedijk, has joined the company as its chief marketing officer.

Reporting directly to ADT president Jim DeVries, Koedijk will be responsible for delivering digital and brand marketing strategies and initiatives that drive profitable business growth.

“Customer retention and lead-generation is significantly driven by digital engagement, and Jochen’s leadership experience with world-class organizations such as Amazon, Chewy, and Electronic Arts is an immediate asset to our organization,” DeVries said in the announcement. “Jochen is a marketing innovator, and we’re excited for him to build upon the ADT brand for our next generation of customers.”

Koedijk joins ADT from Chewy.com where he served as the vice president, marketing Previous to Chewy.com, Jochen held roles at Amazon and Electronic Arts. During his time at Amazon, he led worldwide Social Media and New Channel Advertising, overseeing a cross-functional team of more than 70 people and achieving triple digit year-over-year growth. As a member of Electronic Arts’ digital business unit leadership team, Jochen led in-house global performance marketing operations for the company’s Console, PC, and Mobile games business lines.

“Given the tremendous innovation in the home security and automation space, I couldn’t think of a better time to join ADT, North America’s most recognizable security leader,” Koedijk said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues to continue providing world-class customer service and scaling our business through new and disruptive channels.”

Koedijk holds his degrees in business administration and social sciences from the VU University in Amsterdam, NL.

Jamie Haenggi, who has been overseeing the marketing function as part of her responsibilities, will become the company’s chief customer officer. Customer strategy and retention remains the single most important part of the business, and Haenggi’s experience will be central to enhancing customer engagement, ADT said.

“Jamie is one of our most versatile executives,” DeVries said. “Her passion for the customer, strategic approach and vision for customer experience is instrumental to improving customer retention, maintaining best-in-class customer service and designing a roadmap for further customer engagement and growth.”

“We have made tremendous strides in our customer experience over the past two years,” Haenggi said in the press release. “I’m excited to lead the company’s efforts to further design and execute the customer strategy to deliver greater value, retention and an experience that continues to differentiate ADT in the marketplace.”

ADT, a provider of security and automation solutions in the United States and Canada for homes and businesses based in Boca Raton, Fla., employs approximately 17,500 people throughout North America.

IntelliVision this week announced that the latest version of its facial recognition technology now runs as a cloud-based service as well as on edge devices and on-premise servers.

“Face recognition is becoming a must-have security feature for smart homes and buildings, smart retail, transportation, access control and the gaming industry,” Krishna Khadloya, IntelliVision VP of engineering and products, said in the announcement. “Our face recognition now gives system integrators the flexibility to implement facial detection and recognition in the cloud, on servers, or at the edge, providing real-time results, and reducing bandwidth usage.”

The latest version of IntelliVision’s facial recognition technology is capable of detecting at least ten faces in less than one second with only 25% CPU usage on an Ambarella S5L-based camera, it announced, and as many as twenty faces can be recognized in a single frame. In the cloud-based Face Recognition as a Service, recognition time is sub-second and allows for additional analytics in the overall workflow where camera processing capacity is limited.

The Security Industry Association (SIA) recently provided an update and info on the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)’s announcement of a process to obtain product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods imported to the United States. In effect as of Friday, July 6, an additional 25 percent tariff applies to 56 tariff subheadings identified by SIA as impacting security-related products.

USTR is now considering exclusion requests “to address situations that warrant excluding a particular product within a subheading, but not the tariff subheading as a whole.”

Since exclusions will be made on a product and not a company basis, exclusions will apply to all imports of the product regardless of whether the importer filed a request.

The exclusion process has the following important dates and features:

• The public will have 90 days to file a request for a product exclusion; the request period will end on Tuesday, Oct. 9.• Following public posting of the filed request on regulations.gov, the public will have 14 days to file responses to the request for product exclusion. After the close of the 14-day response period, interested persons will have an additional 7 days to reply to any responses received in support of or opposition to the request.• Exclusions will be effective for one year upon the publication of the exclusion determination in the Federal Register and will apply retroactively to July 6.

In evaluating requests, USTR will consider whether:

• A product is available from a source outside of China• The additional duties would cause severe economic harm to the requestor or other U.S. interests• The particular product is strategically important or related to Chinese industrial programs including “Made in China 2025”

SIA wants to ensure affected members review the official notice and are aware of the opportunity for an exclusion via regulations.gov. Additionally, SIA asks members to share any specific products covered within these categories “that they believe may qualify for exclusion and are important to the U.S. security industry, in order to assist us in analyzing this issue.”

Security Systems News is also looking at this topic in our News Poll this month, so please weigh in by voting and commenting.

LifeShield, a provider of wireless security systems based in Langhorne, Pa., recently added more home automation capabilities for its customers.

“The big thing for us is making sure that our customers have additional use out of their systems,” Doug Bellenger, chief product officer for LifeShield, told Security Systems News.

The LifeShield S30 base is now certified to work with Z-Wave devices. The company has added capabilities with lights, locks, thermostats, garage door controls and voice control through Amazon’s Alexa. “And we’ve added IFTTT to help us connect our customers to the larger IoT ecosystem,” he said. “Part of this integration is obviously making sure they’re available via our applications.”

LifeShield customers have been looking for more home automation, Bellenger said, and the company started working on these automation efforts in January of this year.

“By pairing home automation, voice control, and an improved video experience with our existing wireless home security packages, LifeShield’s capabilities offer everything customers need to create a safe and convenient home environment at an incredible value,” Mike Hagan, LifeShield’s original co-founder and current CEO, said in a prepared statement.

ASIS International recently announced changes for this year’s Global Security Exchange, to be held Sept 23-27 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, including new stages on the exhibit floor as well as career development opportunities.

“We have completely re-engineered GSX to provide more opportunities for security practitioners, solution providers, students, military and first responders. From Career HQ and the International Trade Center to our three unique theaters of education and live demos, attendees and exhibitors will find tremendous value in our immersive, engaging, and informative expo hall,” Richard E. Chase, CPP, PCI, PSP, 2018 president, ASIS International, said in the announcement.

The exhibit floor at GSX will now include three new “X Learning Theaters.” The “X Stage” will feature technologies and their impacts across the industry; such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies, AI, drones and robotics, social media and the digital self. The “Xcelerated Exchange Stage,” will provide a forum for discussions between practitioners and solution providers to proactively address the current and future security landscape. Lastly, the “Xperience Stage” at GSX will showcase case studies and other best practices that address security challenges practitioners face across all industry sectors, including active shooter scenarios, bullying in the healthcare industry, and the risks associated with hosting a public event at cultural institutions.

The new “Career HQ” will have a career fair and enhanced career center, according to ASIS. “Job seekers will have access to resume reviews, a headshot studio, career coaching, professional development sessions and networking opportunities with employers and peers—all free. The new career fair will have top companies looking to hire talent, such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Apple,” the announcement read.

ASIS also announced the “D3 Xperience.” This event, supported by Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), will educate attendees on the impact of unmanned systems on the security industry. Education and demos will showcase the emerging technology around the use of drones, droids and counter-UAV defense systems.

Lastly, the Innovative Product Awards Showcase will highlight new products and services on the GSX show floor that are poised to disrupt the security marketplace. The submission deadline for the IPAs is Aug. 3.

“In addition to these features, the exhibit floor will house an International Trade Center and the ASIS Hub, which includes access to ASIS Council representatives, live streaming interviews, and fireside chats,” ASIS said in its announcement.

VIZpin, a designer and manufacturer of the VIZpin smartphone-based, Bluetooth enabled access entry system, has announced the appointment of Wendi Grinnell to the newly created position of vice president, effective immediately.

Grinnell, of Elizabethtown, is a graduate of Rutgers University and has 20 years of marketing and sales leadership experience. She joined VIZpin in January 2017 in the role of marketing director.

According to VIZpin president and CEO Paul Bodell, the role of VP was added to the company’s organization to support VIZpin’s rapid growth and market expansion.

“Wendi’s extensive industry experience in customer-focused technology solutions and technical marketing make her a natural fit for the important role of Vice President,” Bodell said in the announcement. “Her contributions as marketing director have been invaluable, and we are eager for her to apply her innovative thinking and vision in her new, expanded role to continue enhancing VIZpin’s strategic direction and driving additional growth and profitability.”

As vice president, Grinnell will work closely with Bodell to determine VIZpin’s overall business strategy. She will have an integral role in the development and execution of the company’s growth strategy to achieve strategic business objectives, including leading sales and marketing efforts and team members to secure new business and expand existing business.

“Since joining VIZpin, it has been exciting to see such a dramatic shift in the industry with the adoption of smartphone access control,” Grinnell said. “There are many new opportunities to explore, and as Vice President, I am looking forward to helping to create and execute new strategies to continue to expand our brand and grow the business.”

Mission 500 recently sent out a save the date announcement for its annual security industry softball game fundraiser, which will take place on Aug. 26. The game will be from noon to 3 PM at Overpeck County Park, located at 199 Challenger Road in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.

This will be the fourth annual softball game hosted by Mission 500, with the first occurring in 2015. “Our biggest growth, and where it’s kind of exciting, has been—in addition to raising more funds and supporting more programs—engaging the industry, both professionally and even on a personal level,” Jeff Eichenlaub, director of strategic partnerships for Mission, told Security Systems News. “Last year some of our partners actually brought out clients, families to be part of the event and it was really exciting to see the industry come together.”

In 2017, individuals from 20 companies (along with their children) participated and helped raise over $45,000.

Mission 500 will also be hosting a Back to School Care Pack event at the game with a goal of assembling 200 book bags filled with school supplies. Every $27 donated fills one backpack for donation to local children in need. “We’ve made that a tradition,” Eichenlaub said. “That’s important because it’s an opportunity for us as an organization to inspire other folks to do things. Part of the goal of mission 500 is to not just do our own events, but to really be a catalyst in the industry.”

Sponsorships are available between $500 and $5,000. Companies contributing over $1,500 will have the option to designate one or two players to a team.

Growth in the global professional video surveillance equipment market accelerated in 2017, and is forecasted to continue growing in 2018, according the latest IHS Markit research.

The world market for professional video surveillance equipment grew by 9.3 percent in 2017, IHS found, a much higher rate of growth than in 2016 (3.9 percent) and 2015 (1.9 percent).

“Increased government spending on equipment to fight crime and terrorism was a major factor in this growth, as was private sector spending on replacing equipment in retail and commercial installations,” Jon Cropley, senior principal analyst, video surveillance, IHS Markit, said in a summary of the study.

Increasing demand for security cameras is expected in 2018, he said, but a slightly lower of level of price erosion is also forecast. The combination of these factors will lead to 10.2 percent growth in the video surveillance equipment market, which will reach $18.5 billion in 2018, IHS noted.

Global demand for security cameras grew rapidly in 2017, but average prices continued to fall. “Nevertheless, revenue grew in most countries,” said Cropley. “Two of the fastest-growing country markets were Brazil and India. A major factor behind the growth in both countries was increased spending by private retail and commercial organizations on HD CCTV systems used to prevent crime.”

Accounting for 44 percent of all global revenue, the Chinese professional video surveillance equipment market grew by 14.7 percent, while the world market excluding China grew just 5.5 percent. “One major reason for the higher growth in China was the government’s Xue Liang program driving investment in both city surveillance projects and extending city surveillance systems into surrounding rural areas,” Cropley noted.

Other key findings include:• Although it remains highly fragmented compared to many other markets, the supply base for professional video surveillance equipment is gradually becoming more concentrated. The top 15 vendors accounted for 62 percent of global revenue in 2017.

• Deep-learning-enabled recorders and servers, a new category this year, are an important element in powering what many expect to be the next generation of video analytics using artificial intelligence. They accounted for just 1 percent of global market revenues in 2017.